Where Black Magicians Meet
by Terendel
Summary: Unbeknownst to most duelists, cards have a life outside of the duel. In fact, there is a place between the deck and the realm of Shadow where the cards can meet. Settle back and prepare for a magical journey. For I am going to take you to that most specia


Unbeknownst to most duelists, cards have a life outside of the duel. In fact, there is a place between the deck and the realm of Shadow where the cards can meet. To play. To talk. And yes, sometimes, even to love.  
  
Now under ordinary circumstances, only cards from the same deck can interact in this place. But every so often, something so extraordinary occurs to allow cards from different decks to find their way to a most special place. The space between decks.  
  
Settle back and prepare for a magical journey. For I am going to take you to that most special of places.  
  
Where Black Magicians Meet  
  
By Soulwindow  
  
Rating: G  
  
Spoiler Warning: Major spoilers for the Pandora/Yami battle. I've tried to write it so you can read the story without having seen those episodes, but I'm afraid I will be giving away most of the good parts.  
  
A/N: The biggest problem with writing a story with two Black Magicians is what the heck do you call them? Well, I gotta thank the dub for getting me out of this bind. Yami's Magician is Dark while Pandora's is Black. Not perfect, but it'll have to work. I refuse to make up names for them.  
  
  
  
Dark wandered restlessly. Something was calling him, pulling him even, but he couldn't figure out what. He moved aimlessly past other cards. Mystical Elf winked at him as he walked by. While he'd spent many a happy hour in her arms, that wasn't what he needed right now.  
  
Black Magician's Girl hung on his arm for several minutes, chattering aimlessly about her first appearance in the battle against Pandora. While he was proud of his young disciple, he just couldn't find the right words to praise her. Finally, his silence penetrated her prattle, and she stopped, giving him a concerned look. Dark shook his head, and she silently left, undoubtedly in search of a more sympathetic audience.  
  
Celtic Guardian walked with him for a time, lending silent support by his presence. They'd been in the deck together for many years and had developed a close friendship. Perhaps no one else understood him as well. But not even his closest friend could ease the gnawing ache that drew him on, farther from the activity of the other cards, ever closer to the nowhere land that lay at the edge of the deck.  
  
Finally, he left all the cards behind. Except one. Kuriboh appeared in his arms, round eyes wide as the puffball wondered what was wrong with his favorite playmate. The furry ball managed what no other card had this day. It brought the faintest of smiles to Dark's lips. But soon he went beyond where even Kuriboh was willing to go. With a gentle pat on Dark's cheek, the small card faded away.  
  
A few more minutes brought him to the boundary. He'd never been here before. Other cards bragged of making the journey, but he'd always been half convinced their stories were nine parts bravado and perhaps one part truth. Now he was fully convinced. None of the stories came close to reality.  
  
For the boundary was...nothing. Just empty darkness that seemed to go on into infinity. But he knew something was there, even if he couldn't see it. Dark stepped forward hesitantly, still pulled on by the nameless ache. Tentatively, he reached out a hand, expecting to meet an unseen barrier. To his surprise, his hand passed through the darkness. But into what?  
  
As soon as his hand passed from sight, he got another surprise. A cold hand grabbed his and started to pull. For a moment, he struggled to escape, but suddenly he knew. That which had been calling him was on the other side of the barrier. Perhaps the other hand could grant him passage where no card should be able to go.  
  
Dark relaxed and let the other pull him into darkness.  
  
He'd been half-expecting what he saw on the other side. The place looked very like his own deck's space, empty and dimly-lit. Nor was he completely surprised by who held his hand.  
  
He bowed slightly at the sight of another Black Magician.  
  
The other bowed back. Dark recognized him. He'd fought him just a few days earlier. This one belonged to a duelist named Pandora. Dark remembered the victory with particular pleasure. Once again his Master had dueled with honor and triumphed over a dishonorable foe.  
  
Dark carefully examined the features in front of him, so like and yet unlike his own. Where his outfit was a warm shade of purple tinged with plenty of blue, the other's was almost reddish in hue. His green eyes met the cold white orbs of his counterpart. He frowned. They were not the cold of indifference. Instead, they seemed the cold of emptiness. Dark could see the yearning in them to be filled with warmth.  
  
He glanced down at the hand still grasping his. It too was cold, though the temperature here was no different from where he had been. He cocked his head and looked at the other. "Brother?"  
  
Black raised an eyebrow. "Brother?" he questioned.  
  
Dark smiled slightly and nodded. "What else would we be? In spirit if not in body."  
  
White eyes warmed slightly. "Brother," he said again, as if trying it out and liking the sound of it. He nodded and gripped Dark's hand more tightly. "Brother." This time his voice was certain.  
  
Dark returned the hand clasp, shifting his hand to grip Black's forearm. "What is wrong? Why did you call me here?"  
  
Confusion flashed across the other's face. "I called you? I thought you called me."  
  
Frowning, Dark considered for a moment before responding. "Then perhaps we called each other. But something troubles you. Tell me of it."  
  
Black's eyes widened, darting in every direction, expression slowly turning fearful. He shook his head. "I...I...should not. It is forbidden to us."  
  
Dark sighed, seeing that this was going to be difficult. And he didn't want to attack it standing up. Experimentally, he concentrated, seeing if he had the same control here as he did in his own deck. His lips quirked when a couch appeared, and he nodded. Pulling gently on Black's arm, he started to move to sit down. He blinked when the other did not follow. Turning back, he was surprised to see Black even more wide-eyed than before. His mouth moved as if he was trying to speak, and he started to back away, letting go of Dark's arm.  
  
Dark shook his head, and gripped Black tightly. "No, it's all right. Don't go."  
  
Black shook his head. "B...b...but it is forbidden."  
  
Frowning, Dark asked. "What is forbidden?"  
  
Black gestured at the couch. "To make things...like that!"  
  
Now it was Dark's turn to go wide-eyed. His counterpart was making no sense. Cards in his Master's deck had free control over their surroundings. In fact, they made and unmade things all the time, many of them thinking of it as a fun game. Buckets of water appearing over one's head were a common occurrence. Obviously cards in Pandora's deck had different rules.  
  
He gently stroked Black's arm. "It's all right. It's not forbidden to me." He glanced around, suddenly realizing that something had been tickling in the back of his mind the entire time he'd been here. "We aren't in our decks, anyway. We're someplace else."  
  
Black glanced around, and Dark saw the same realization cross the other's face. When he spoke, it was with a voice full of wonder. "You are right. This is not the prison of my Master's deck."  
  
Dark shook his head. With every word from the other, he was beginning to realize that he'd taken his Master and his experience for granted. The friends of his Master also treated their cards with respect, and he'd assumed all duelists did. Now he was learning otherwise. "Sit then. We are safe here. Tell me about it." He pulled Black to the couch. The other followed, obviously still nervous, but he did sit.  
  
Dark sat facing Black, arms still clasped together. He waited patiently, sensing it would take a while for the other to work up the courage to move beyond his training. Black held onto his arm as if to a lifeline, emotions crossing his face so fast that Dark couldn't even begin to follow them all.  
  
Finally, the other spoke, slowly, haltingly, obviously not used to conversation. "Our Master does not allow us to...alter our surroundings. Nor does he encourage us to interact much with the other cards. Well, he allows us Black Magicians to work on techniques, but he doesn't want us to...just talk." He shook his head. "Not like this, certainly." His expression turned wondering. "Obviously your Master is different."  
  
Blinking, Dark nodded. He'd been starting to get some idea of what Black's life outside of dueling was like, but hearing it was still startling. His Master had no rules on what the cards did when not dueling. In fact, he wasn't certain his Master knew they had a life outside of the arena. Which made him realize. "Your Master knows about the deck place?"  
  
Black nodded. "Of course. Yours does not?"  
  
Dark shrugged. "I don't think so. I don't think my Master knows that we have a life outside of the duel."  
  
Black's eyes widened. "He doesn't? And yet he still treats you...like...well, like he does." Obviously the other did not even have words for the differences in the way their respective Masters acted toward their cards.  
  
Nodding, Dark answered. "Yes, he treats us well." He shook his head. "No, it's more than that. He accepts that we are people deserving of choices and respect, even though he doesn't know that we have our own thoughts, feelings, and even lives, no matter how limited they are by the deck place."  
  
The other sat back heavily in the couch. "And he'd never sacrifice one of you, would he? Not like mine did to me."  
  
Dark smiled fondly. "No, he never would. But even if he had to, he'd care about the outcome. He'd never treat my death in a duel lightly."  
  
Black released Dark's arm, and wrapped his arms tight around his knees, hugging himself and rocking slowly back and forth. "He'd never done that before. He'd never needed to. He usually wins so easily. But when he said that I would...die, and I could hear that he didn't care. Something died in me that day. And I don't know if I can ever bring it back."  
  
Now Dark understood the emptiness in the other's cold, white eyes.  
  
Black continued, still rocking, his voice so low that Dark needed to strain to hear it. "And the other Black Magicians don't understand why I'm different now. They didn't see what happened. They didn't hear his voice." He looked up, eyes desolate. "And they didn't see what else I saw that day."  
  
"What else was that?" Dark asked, his voice soft.  
  
"I saw a card willingly sacrifice himself for his Master." He shook his head. "I'd never dreamed someone would do that."  
  
Dark smiled gently. "It's called 'love', Brother."  
  
Black blinked and stopped rocking. "What is love?"  
  
Now it was Dark's turn to blink. Certain he had misheard, he asked, "What did you say?"  
  
Black calmly repeated himself. "I asked what is love? From your voice it sounded like a nice thing."  
  
Dark simply could not imagine not knowing about love. He'd been surrounded by it for all of his existence. The steadfast support of Celtic Guardian. The warm embrace of Mystical Elf. And of course he loved both his masters, and he knew that they, in their own way, loved him.  
  
He felt his view of the world begin to crumble under him. He was confident he could put it back together. But he was saddened at the knowledge that it would never be quite the same again.  
  
Black watched him patiently, obviously waiting for him to answer the question. Dark took a deep breath. How to explain something he'd taken for granted all this time? He remembered the look in his Master's eyes when Pandora had activated the trap card, chaining him to a cross, helpless to defend his Master. That look had held more than worry at taking damage and possibly losing the duel. That look had held concern for him and his plight.  
  
Maybe that was where to start. "Love, brother, is when you worry more about someone else than you worry about yourself. When their pain takes on as much, or even more, meaning than your pain." Dark knew there was far more to it, but perhaps his counterpart could understand that much.  
  
Black still gripped his knees, but he relaxed his hands as his face screwed up in concentration. Finally, he spoke. "So because you...love your Master, his survival was more important than yours?"  
  
Dark nodded. "Exactly." He hesitated, not certain how the other would take what he was about to say next. "But it was more than that. My Master and I work together, as a team. I wanted him to win, to defeat your Master...because..." He stopped, not sure how to express himself.  
  
"Because what?"  
  
Sighing, he just said it, not even trying to pretty it up or soften the message. "Because your master is dishonorable, and I wanted him to lose. It wasn't just that I wanted my Master to win, though of course, I did want that too. I wanted yours to lose. To show him that his way is wrong."  
  
"How is his way wrong?" Black asked, his voice soft, tinged with menace.  
  
Dark reached out and put his hands over the other's, hoping that contact would keep things calm long enough. He could feel Black quivering. "His way is wrong because he treats you like things, pawns to be moved around the arena to his will."  
  
Black straightened, no longer hugging his knees, though he did not move his hands from under Dark's. "And yours does not? He tells you when to attack and when to defend."  
  
Shaking his head, Dark answered, his voice intent. Though he could not explain why, it was important to convince his counterpart that there was another way to duel. "True. He controls the action in the duel. Most of the time." His lips twitched in an almost smile as he remembered the first time he had acted on his own, without orders. To defend the young Master in the virtual reality game. He still thought fondly of the fairy who had given his life to buy the Magician a precious few seconds to get into position. "But he considers us when he acts. He does not just throw us away. He tries to summon without sacrifice, but when he has no other choice, he thanks us for our service."  
  
Black moved his hands to cover his brother's. He nodded. "I see. I think I understand. I do not know that I comprehend this...love of which you speak, but I can see its effect." He shook his head sadly. "But what am I to do? You are in your Master's deck. And I am stuck in mine."  
  
Dark's eyes widened. What had he been thinking? Here he had been working so hard to convince the other that his Master's way was best, and he had never once considered that all he was doing was showing his brother how miserable his own existence was. And it was true. Once a card was in a deck, he was stuck there, until sold or traded. And no one traded cards as valuable as Black Magician. Perhaps Black had understood that his life was not all it could be, but it was his life, and he had learned to deal with it. Now Dark had shown him the green on the other side of the boundary, but Black could never cross over.  
  
He lowered his head. "I am sorry, brother. I let my...pride in my Master get in the way of good sense."  
  
Strong fingers, not so cold as before, cupped his chin and gently brought his head up. "No, brother. Do not be sorry." White eyes, not so empty as before, caught his and held him fast. "I think you were correct. I think we both called each other here. And there must have been a reason. Perhaps it was to show me this. Until now, my life has been empty. Now I feel something. Something I have never felt before. I do not know what it is, but I want to find out. That gives me a reason to go on. My Master might change his ways. And if he does, I know now what to do."  
  
Dark tried to smile, glad that his brother had found purpose, but still regretting the how behind the finding. "What about your other...brothers? Will they accept that you are now different?"  
  
Black shrugged. "Probably not. And without having seen what I saw of you and your Master, I can not convince them otherwise. But it makes little difference. We are all alone in our deck. I can't be any more alone than I have been."  
  
Dark knew he was wrong about that. Having tasted brotherhood, he knew Black would find it difficult to live without it.  
  
His brother nodded, apparently having sensed his thoughts. "True, Brother. But perhaps we can meet here again."  
  
Dark nodded, thinking it unlikely, but not wanting to dash all hope in the heart of the other. Something tugged at him, and he glanced behind him, knowing that his time here was drawing to a close. Warm fingers moved from his chin to gently caress his cheek. "Yes, Brother. It is time for us to be gone from this place."  
  
They stood, slowly, neither wanting the moment to end but knowing it could not last any longer. Just before the pull became unbearable, Dark reached out to grab Black and pull him close. His brother hugged him back, holding on tight. But they could not deny their nature for long, and they separated.  
  
"Good bye, Brother," Dark said softly.  
  
Black forced a reluctant smile. "Thank you. For showing me something of this love. I will remember it always."  
  
And then neither could deny the tug, and they turned to go back to their decks.  
  
Dark stood for a long time at the boundary, staring into the nothingness. He lowered his head, watching as two tears spilled from his eyes to splatter on the barren ground below. He didn't know how long he stayed there before he finally raised his head and turned to return to the bustle and activity of his deck place. But he knew that a part of his heart would always remain behind, in the space between decks. Where Black Magicians meet.  
  
Fin 


End file.
